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Tuesday, 13 January 2015

The Loss of HMS Viknor 13th January 1915

One hundred years ago, in January 1915, the First World War
at sea was ramping up as the German submarine and mine technology began to take
an ever increasing toll on British naval and merchant shipping. The vast majority of the
losses sustained are wholly forgotten today, except by the families of those
who lost forebears and kinsfolk through this vicious form of warfare. Unknown
as such cases may now be, the number of causalities in single sinkings still
have the power to shock.

The liner Atrato, later the Viking and lastly HMS Viknor

The hundredth anniversary of just such a tragedy falls
today, January 13th 2015, and relates to the loss with all hands of
the armed merchant cruiser HMS Viknor. She had been built as long before as 1888 as
a passenger liner, the Atrato, for
use on routes between Britain and the West Indies. Capable of carrying 279
passengers, and 421 ft long and 5,347 tons, she was distinctly yacht-like in
appearance due to her clipper bow and smartly raked masts and funnels. Sadly
underpowered at 1000 hp, her single screw driving her at no more than 14 knots,
she must still have looked a splendid sight on the blue waters of the Caribbean.
In 1912 she was renamed as the Viking
by new owners and was used for cruising, an activity for which speed was not an
essential.

Thoroughly obsolete in 1914, not to mention slow, it is
therefore surprising that she should have been requisitioned by the British Admiralty
service on the outbreak of war in 1914. Now named HMS Viknor, she was armed as a “merchant cruiser” and allocated to the
Royal Navy’s 10th Cruiser Squadron which was tasked with patrolling between Iceland
and Northern Scotland. Minimally armed, these merchant cruisers were not
expected to meet enemy warships and their main purpose was to intercept neutral
shipping for inspection to detect war contraband destined for Germany.
Considering that during the winter months the ships on this station were likely
to encounter some of the worst sea conditions in the world, it is surprising
that an old underpowered vessel like the Viknor
was ever chosen for such duty.

During the first weeks of 1915 the Viknor was on patrol off the North West coast of Ireland. She
appears to have been in radio contact but she was to disappear in heavy weather
on January 13th, close to Tory Island, off the coast of Donegal, without
sending a distress signal. She took with her the entire 291-man crew, as well
as a German national who had been taken off a ship the neutral Norwegian vessel
Bergensfjord, under suspicion of
being a secret agent, as well as six other men who have been cryptically
referred to as “stowaways”. Some wreckage and many corpses were subsequently
washed up on the Irish and Scottish coasts.

The Berlin, interred near Bergen after her only war-cruise - though a successful one

Though the exact cause of the Viknor’s loss cannot be established with certainty, it is possible
that she struck a German mine. This could possibly have been one of the 200
laid in the same general area by the German auxiliary cruiser Berlin, one of which had sunk the
British battleship HMS Audacious on October
27th 1914. The Viknor’s wreck was
found by the Irish survey vessel Celtic
Explorer in 2006 but the reason for her loss could still not be identified
with absolute certainty.

The Berlin, seen in her later career as the British SS Arabic

The Berlin was herself
a converted passenger vessel, but modern, dating from 1908 and used until 1914
on the Genoa to New York route. Requisitioned
by the German Navy on the outbreak of war, she was to have only a short career,
though obviously successful, as a mine-laying
auxiliary cruiser. Returning to Germany she ran into heavy weather and
was forced to put in to Trondheim, Norway for repairs. Unable to complete them
in the time allowed by the neutrality laws, she was to be interned in Norway
for the remainder of the war. She was to have a successful afterlife, for she
was awarded to Britain as war reparations and was to serve the White Star Line
as SS Arabic until 1931. One suspects
that many who sailed on her in this peaceful guise were never aware of the fact
that she had achieved more devastation, and caused more misery, than most
warships ever do.

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About Me

My "Dawlish Chronicles" are set in the late 19th Century and reflect my deep interest in the politics, attitudes and technology of the period. The fifth novel in the series, “Britannia’s Amazon” is now available in both paperback and Kindle formats. It follows the four earlier Dawlish Chronicles, "Britannia's Wolf", "Britannia's Reach”, "Britannia's Shark" and "Britannia's Spartan". Click on the book covers below to learn more or to purchase.
I’ve had an adventurous career in the international energy industry and am proud of having worked in every continent except Antarctica. History is a driving passion in my life and I have travelled widely to visit sites of historical significance, many insights gained in this way being reflected in my writing. I welcome contact on Facebook and via this Blog. My website is www.dawlishchronicles.com and its “Conflict” section has a large number of articles on topics from the mid-18th Century to the early 20th Century.